The Scotland international has been forced to sit back and admire much of City’s campaign so far due to an ankle injury that sidelined him for four months.

Sporting director Stuart Webber has admitted he expects the January transfer window to be quiet in terms of incomings, thanks largely to the expectation that the likes of McLean and Grant Hanley can return to fitness and strengthen the club’s promotion bid.

McLean banked an important 90 minutes during the Canaries’ 1-0 loss to Portsmouth in the FA Cup on Saturday, and his return couldn’t be better timed with a tough run of fixtures coming up.

“It’s been excellent. We can see that the team don’t really need me!” McLean joked.

“It’s been excellent to watch, but just frustrating not to be a part of, that’s the reason I came here. It’s been really exciting.

“The position we’ve got ourselves in is excellent and I think we can even improve our form to the end of the season. December was a long, tough month and we’re still sat in an excellent position.”

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First up is a trip to fourth-placed West Brom on Saturday, when McLean could well be needed for the midfield mix with injury doubts over Alex Tettey, Marco Stiepermann and Emi Buendia.

“The next few games are Saturday-Saturday so it gives you more time to prepare on the training pitch and there’s also less load for the legs,” he continued.

“It’s been a lot to ask of the boys recently but they’ve been excellent. It’s just up to us to work hard on the things we need to improve on.”

The 27-year-old was signed from Aberdeen last January but remained with the Scottish Premiership side on loan until the summer. He was then just three games into his Canaries career before being injured in a League Cup first round win over Stevenage.

“Everybody’s been excellent, because they know how tough it’s been for me, because it was originally a four-week injury,” McLean told City’s website ahead of his FA Cup return.